We may rarely find parallels between our lives and the lavish lifestyles of the ultra-affluent, but every once in a while, we can find valuable lessons from their behavior.

The following five examples — James Gandolfini, Heath Ledger, J. Seward Johnson Sr., Michael Jackson and Jerry Garcia — provide a template of what not to do with your estate plan. Joan Rivers modeled what should be done.

SAN RAFAEL — Jean Chatzky, a financial journalist brought by Redwood Credit Union to speak about money at Dominican University on Sept. 18, sees estate planning as an essential ingredient of personal finance.

NORTH BAY — Options for long-term estate planning have broadened for same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of certain provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, with potential implications for popular strategies that often hinged largely on life insurance policies, financial advisers and estate law attorneys said.

Business owners, particularly in the wine industry that makes up a significant proportion of the North Coast economy, need to pay attention to major health care insurance, tax and estate law changes this year to avoid steep noncompliance penalties and mitigate significant tax increases, according to local tax-planning and insurance experts.

Preferential gift and estate tax treatment afforded under current law is set to expire on December 31, 2012. You should consider taking steps now to take advantage of the favorable tax laws before year-end.

We are currently in a unique tax environment allowing for $5 million of lifetime gifts (per individual, $10 million per married couple) to be made tax-free. If no action is taken by the government, the gift tax exemption will return to $1 million beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

While experts agree that estate planning is a comprehensive process spanning many facets of an individual’s financial legacy, one element of that planning has dominated the limelight since 2011: a temporary five-fold increase in the value of assets that an individual can gift without a federal tax penalty.

With 2011 coming to a close, we would like to take the opportunity to remind you of the unique tax environment which we are in, allowing for $5 million of lifetime gifts (per individual, $10 million per married couple) to be made tax-free. If no action is taken by the government, the gift tax exemption will return to $1 million beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

NORTH BAY – Estate tax and law experts are telling clients that the time to plan is now, while there is some clarity on a long-contentious issue that could easily change again in the not-so-distant future.

In a recent article I outlined the importance of selecting a trustee and gave several ideas for making that very important decision. Some options were using a family member, a bank or a trusted advisor who already has a relationship established like an accountant or attorney. Another option well-deserving of a separate article is that of using a California Licensed Private Fiduciary as trustee. While this industry has been around for decades, licensing requirements and professional associations for fiduciaries have arisen in the last five to 10 years, adding additional assurances to the field.

By Lara Gilman and Evan Abrams, attorneys in the Family Wealth Practice Group at Farella Braun + Martel LLP. The old adage that there is “no time like the present” has never run truer than the end of this calendar year in terms of estate planning opportunities. As families look forward to a season of gift giving, perhaps the greatest gift they can give themselves is sound, practical financial footing. In that spirit, here are some time-sensitive opportunities to take advantage of before the New Year.

When Sonoma resident Julie Jones and her siblings were dealing with the long-term illness and death of a parent, she wished she had some kind of tool to help her understand all the things they needed to take care of and to have handy when they worked with their accountants and estate attorneys.

NORTH BAY – The House Ways and Means Committee has approved HR 4849, and if it is enacted, there will be a new stipulation on Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, a way for people to transfer interest in their business to their heirs in a tax efficient way.